Feb. 6, 2013
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by Gary Strauss, USA TODAY

by Gary Strauss, USA TODAY

More than 4,000 bank executives had their personal information published on the Internet by hackers who accessed the data on an internal Federal Reserve website, according to a Reuters report.

The Federal Reserve says no critical functions were affected by the breach, which the activist group Anonymous is taking credit for. `

"Exposure was fixed shortly after discovery and is no longer an issue. This incident did not affect critical operations of the Federal Reserve system," a spokeswoman for the U.S. central bank told Reuters. All of the bankers affected by the breach had been contacted, Reuters said.

The information posted by Anonymous included mailing addresses, business and personal phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Anonymous is a ragtag group of activist hackers who've launched scores of attacks on government and business sites.

The Fed did not identify the hacked website. But Reuters said bankers were told that the site was a contact database for use during natural disasters.

Wednesday afternoon, Fed spokeswoman Lisa Oliva said the hackers had exploited a "temporary vulnerability." She says the exposure has been fixed, the executives have been informed of the breach and it is no longer an issue.

Anonymous has been involved in an increasing number of hack attacks on business and government websites in retaliation for the seizure of Megaupload, a popular Internet service that allowed users to transfer large files of movies and music. The FBI has charged several people connected with Megaupload with copyright infringement and running an international criminal enterprise.